NOTE! There was a miscommunication about our 5% discount stacking on top of the 10% discount of MMH members. This is NOT the case, and we apologize for any confusion caused. Non-MMH members still get 5% off with our code (CHANGINGLANES), and MMH members still get their 10% discount.
I had to have leg amputated first of the year and basically quit watching anything on TH-cam. Ive started back some lately and watching this video just made me realize how much I missed your channel. Thanks for sharing and will be going back over the past months to get caught up. Thanks 😊
Such a clean install. Glad the starlink external plug worked out for you. Was a game changer for me. I shared that same hesitation prior to cutting the cable. A tip for me was adding a small dap of dialectic greese to the connector. Even though "waterproof", I still had a bit of corrosion on the connectors after about 8 months.
Yup....way, way over my head , and what an old Vietnam, rv'n vet needs for my exploration of our great country! Love the channel! Hope you hit the road soon.
Your "lowest level" of internet connectivity is a cell phone as a hot spot. You said you lose your internet connection when you take your phone away from the RV. In our situation, I've got a LTE connected tablet that is used as our RV safe GPS on travel days. When we get into the RV for a trip I fire up the hotspot and the RV WiFi knows to connect to that first. That way we are constantly connected as long as we have cell coverage. All of our devices (except for my cell phone and that tablet) are configured to connect to the RV WiFi so my bride's tablet and our streaming devices are ready to go as soon as we turn them on. Awesome overview of your Internet 4.0! I'll never need anything that robust, but thanks for showing what's out there so I can pick and choose what will work best for me. Safe travels and maybe someday we'll see you out there.
Super informative video! I'm a full time RVer and getting internet has been a crucial aspect for my ability to work remotely. I use homeFi and its been great, super reliable and inexpensive!
Chad fabulous video as a retired network engineer I was drooling at what you installed in your RV. I made meany videos on the old WifiRanger on my channel aaa those were the days lol. I now am using a Unfi system with high security and virus protection. But that a video for an other time. Again great video on your system
Man oh man, my husband and I would be the luckiest RVers ever if we were to ever be able to run into you and sweet talk you into a consult. We went with the Peplink Dual Max Pro set up and we’re just eeking by on our speed.
Great as always Chad! I am surprised you are not including T-Mobile & Verizon Home Internet as a basic resources @ $40-50 a month unlimited & unthrottled! Salespersons may say (they don’t know better) that these are home based but I’m using them all over as they provide better signals than hot spots, serve as their own router, and the price is great too! See y’all @ Grand Design National Rally!
I was just reading the FAQ for t-mobile home internet: "there are some restrictions on activities that can damage or disproportionately congest the network. For example, Home Internet is not intended for unattended use, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections". I think most have terms like this.. So, our large amounts of dropbox data would disqualify us.. We use 1-2 TB a month. That said, it might be very viable for the "normal" user. We might have to try them out at some point to test....
I’m using the BR1 with ATT SIM card. Verizon & TMobile Home Internet via wan with new feature in 8.3, and Starlink via WiFi as Wan. I am a Zoom trainer and redundancy and reliability are not optional. Pepwave should be at the heart of your system! Chad, MIRC, and Mobile Must Have are your go to resources!
While most of this is far beyond me, I still enjoyed watching you cobble all of this together to fit your needs. I do like the 'Nerdy' stuff. I do some of our grunt IT work here (under the supervision of an IT company) and I agree that the EZ Connectors are the only way to go. Can't tell you how many times I have had a pair flip on me as as I was pushing them into the connector. It sure is nice to be able to double check them before crimping isn't it? You did a real nice job Chad. Thank for sharing it all with us.
Thanks, Chad. This looks like quite a project, but having gone through this before probably helped a bunch. Probably a lot more simple if you weren't working from "home" but then ya'll couldn't get out and do what you do. Looked like a clean and fairly simple install, good job. Thanks guys for another nice video. Hope Tara's treatments are going well. God bless ya'll and stay safe on the road when you get out there.
Wow , I feel this amount of tech could throw me in the looney bin🤣 But i always enjoy watching your description and knowledge with everything you cover . Thank you Chad !
Being a techie geek myself (degree in electronics and computer science, career in industrial automation) I found the video interesting. Bottom line is, I get adequate and usable service using our AT&T unlimited plan and the cell phone hotspot with the laptop. I've never had connection issues for phone or laptop use from coast to coast. Of course my usage does not involve large video uploads or space mission controls😉. To each his own according to his needs...
I feel like someone can dominate a market by making mobile internet a little simpler than this. Your determination to have reliable internet is enviable.
Chad, you should consider doing RV tech consultations and system/equipment designs & part lists for folks. Make a questionnaire of what you need it for, potential budget and your hourly rate. Bonus points if you were able to network and provide a vendor to do the installation and testing as well. Folks would pay good for a service like that.
Great video and overview of your system. As a fellow IT guy, these techy videos are my fav. We rock the Pepwave Transit Duo with 2 cellular and Starlink connections and has been rock solid this past year of full time travels. Highly recommend Mobile Must Have for the Pepwave gear. They are awesome. Oh and hello from the other side of the Smoky Mountains!
Chad - Great video again on internet solutions. Quick question on the Speed Fusion. You mentioned that basically it is making a VPN circuit to load balance across all 3 or 4 internet solutions (Starlink, Verizon, ATT, & TMobile)... Do you know if you can run a VPN on your laptop through the Speed Fusion solution? In other words, you have the speed fusion all setup and running, and my wife or I need to connect to work, we must use a VPN connection between our laptop and the corporate network. This absolutely would put our minds at ease in regards to building out as "bullet proof" solution as possible for working while traveling - we need to be on very important MS Team calls and using Cisco VoIP Soft Phones talking to our different staffs...
Years ago, I used to install custom car audio and electronics. We learned to run your hole saw backward when drilling materials or plastic that might catch. Once started through the direction, it can be corrected for the base material.
Great video, love the geek speak and you held a nice low level of lingo to keep it understandable by most people. Your wiring makes me happy, nice and neat, labeled, bundled properly, chaffing protected, all the things. Nice job man! I like how you used PoE to handle the APs and only needed the one cable instead of providing an additional power source cable. The way you compartmentalized the network really makes troubleshooting and hardware replacement so much smoother too. Future proof and clean setup
Great video as always. Just curious, why do you not use T-mobile home internet box? I use it for working while traveling (we are full-time RVer’s) and have only had a problem once or twice. It picks up 5G when available. It’s only $50 a month. Plug and play. On another note, we met you guys at Tampa RV show on industry day. Hubby is a NRVTA graduate with his own business now. We love you guys and you are the reason we are where we are today. Thanks!!
I just get travfi and it bounces of at least 3 providers. As long as you have cell towers your good to go. And cost is much cheaper. Now if you plan to be in the mountains then you might need a starlink. But for the most part for streaming and phones etc travfi worked great for us. a little white box bring it with you everywhere and there plans can be customized for your needs. They do have 5g but we found with pur devices witch we have 5 devices is plenty. You pick the hardware and then it automatically picks the strongest signal . We used this up and down the east coast on the road. And we have it as snowbirds to Florida for 4 months on our trec from NH. It's worth a look especially if your camping here and there for a week or more. Plans are $19 to $129 for unlimited.
I can't begin to try and explain how far over my head this was. You literally are speaking a foreign language. I have Starlink in a new build home in the middle of rural America, I have their Mesh system too but I still have issues. I do need to have you as my neighbor or best friend though. Thats for damn sure. I have watched you guys for years and I'll give you a thumbs up just because of your presentation. Great video. I think. 🙂
Great Video Chad. What do you recommend for areas that have limited cell service. We live in KY and do a lot of camping in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Cades Cove Campground) or in the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky. Part of that is we go there to get away from cell service but with aging parents we want to be able to get some service.
I hope you are running Plenum rated cables in the air ducts. It's normally a little more expensive than non Plenum rated, but it is much safer in case of a duct fire.
Thank you for the great information - Since you have the system hard-wired to 110 AC, and you spoke about having the bedroom Access Point close enough to your tow rig, when you're moving locations, do you power everything down since you're no longer shore-power-connected? If so, how do you use the AP in the truck?
What speeds are y’all seeing on average with your set up esp through the nc mountains? We have a trip from brevard through Franklin up into east Tn this summer and are trying to decide on our final internet setup. We already have Starlink but need to add a cellular router for backup.
Great video and very thorough, well thought out as always! One comment on the hand made network cables, push through connectors are probably the easiest to make as long as long as you have the cut/crimp tool designed for those connectors like Chad used. That tool is expensive so many people will try to use a regular crimper and cut the wires off with regular wire cutters. If that happens there will be exposed metal at the end of the connector, it can touch other metal short out and damage things.
Hi Chad. I have the old 4G Pepwave Max device with the 5-in-1 antenna. I want to upgrade to the new 5G device. How do you get the old antenna off the roof without messing up the roof membrane?
Thanks Chad for all the great information in this video. I'm getting ready to start full-timing in my RV and I work remotely as a software engineer so connectivity is pretty important to my job, however I don't really have the huge bandwidth needs that you seem to have. I'm planning on purchasing the Peplink Max BR1 and using a data plan along with Starlink. My question is how well the built in cellular antennas on these devices work without using an external antenna. If I don't need to invest in the external antenna and go through the effort (and anxiety) of roof mounting that, I'd rather not, however if I'm going to have problems from day one without it, then I'll just do it.
Thanks for making all of these videos, they are very useful as we are going to start living full time in a RV we bought a few months ago! Would you recommend your NAS device? I, as a content creator and GoPro enthusiast, need a lot of hard drive storage, but I am skeptical about getting hard drives over solid state drives because they are more prone to fail, especially when on the road. Have you had any issues, and could you point me in the direction of your setup? Thanks a lot!
We run a business out of our 5er which we travel in and live in full-time, and we get by with just Starlink, a simple 2 SIM (AT&T/ VERIZON) Skyus 160 hotspot with LTE/4G, a WeBoost external directional antenna and amplifier, and a "dumb" TP Link ethernet switch. Starlink and the Weboost antenna are on a permanently mounted telescopic pole attached to the ladder of the RV. Bonding is neat I guess, but the Skyus 160 web page is more than enough for switching SIMS or reading signal strength. It seems as though you're both retired. I fail to see the necessity for you guys to have all that, other than promoting for your sponsors. To each their own I guess. A tech nerd gonna tech nerd......but damn, the overkill here is insane!
I have the max br1 mini cat 7, with no USB port. If I wanted to connect a small external hard drive, could I simply use a USB to Lan adapter? Or would I need a switch?
Did you use shielded RJ45 connectors for the starling cable at the waterproof connector? About to do this upgrade and wondering if I need to order some.
T mobile home internet is unlimited 5G mobile internet and it is a straight forward $50 per month. I live in a momentum 376th it works every where we have been just love it
I was just reading the FAQ for t-mobile home internet: "there are some restrictions on activities that can damage or disproportionately congest the network. For example, Home Internet is not intended for unattended use, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections". I think most have terms like this.. So, our large amounts of dropbox data would disqualify us.. We use 1-2 TB a month. That said, it might be very viable for the "normal" user. We might have to try them out at some point to test....
Another excellent info-filled video Chad! What do you use for your NAS drive? - I probably need to replace my older Netgear drive soon. - Thanks! - Cheers!
Good idea, taking a picture of the connections that will be hard to see later. I would probably print a copy and adhere it to the front of the device. Be easier than searching all your images on your phone in 6 months or in the event of a phone failure.
@@TheMhudlow just an FYI, in-case you don't know about it (if not an Apple user I don't know what Android has on this front) - if using Apple products you can also tag your photos and then just use the search. I used to keep many folders but now use the electronic means to find things as it is usually way quicker than scrolling timeline to find (as things are always way older than I remember) and or searching manually thru the camera role. Apple also has face detection so you can easily find photos of the person easier too.
Trying to pull the trigger on a Mobil Must Have Starlink package with the BR1 Pro 5G. Stalling on antenna selection. Wondering how often the effort of erecting a pole mount PEPWAVE would actually benefit over a Husky Pro 7 roof mount. The decisions never end!
Chad you are the best! Will you have a diagram for your internet setup like you have for the electric setup? Btw when you make these videos is Tara behind the camera, recharging her batteries, doing other stuff?
This video was just me... mounted gopros and canon on tripod. 😊 No diagram, but it's just the BR2 and Starlink connected to WAN ports on the BR1. And the BR1 and both APs are connected to the switch.
Is the WAN smoothing the equivalent of LiveU's FEC (Forward Error Correction) where missing packets are sent & resent as necessary to / from / thru the Speed Fusion Cloud service?
Hi Chad, can you share how the SpeedFusion plans work and what the costs are with them. I am thinking along the lines of a BR1 Pro and getting a T-Mobile and Verizon Sim, I also have Starlink, and AT&T via my cell phones last resort.
@@ChangingLanes The plans are still confusing, for example, Protect Plan C 365 days for $40.00 seems fine. Reads like an Oracle contract. I understand when I buy a device (br1 pro for example) it will come with some level of Protect coverage for a period of time or data.
Do you happen to know if you have a permanent home base with a high speed connection (Cable or Fiber) could you put another Peplink box there and then run your own SpeedFusion instance from your RV to that so you would not have to pay Peplink for a higher performance speed tier?
Interesting video and very good information and great delivery on the details. Tks. One Q4U, the hole you drilled, it looked from watching you doing it inside the 5th wheel it was near the edge however seeing the drill coming through the roof it looked more in the center of the roof then where you mounted the box and using the holesaw it was back near the edge again. Was that an illusion or older video dubbed in?
Why not use the in-built Wifi from the 11-1 dish? That has more than enough coverage for an RV - stupidly overkill to have 2 APs so close to each other.
Why did you need the WAPs? I would have expected the Wi-Fi antennae in your roof antenna to provide more than enough coverage in the RV? Or do those antennae only provide WAN over Wifi connections to the peplink BR2 and you need additional AP for Wi-Fi review to connect to your network?
I didn't dive deep, but I usually configure a "guest" wifi (with password) on the roof antenna and let it do that and wifi as wan... then I configure the inside APs with our regular SSIDs. We found in our last RV that the wifi wouldn't reach the truck without the AP in the bedroom. Metal truck and all....
Great walkthrough! How do the drives in that Synology NAS hold up with all the travel? I have always thought that a spinning HDD wouldn't survive a drive day in an RV.
I'm un-sure why you would use the junction box, and not just mount the 11-1 antenna directly to the roof of the RV? Peplinks versions allow for the sealant / rubber gasket to ensure watertight connection.
You should move everything to DC rather than AC!!! If you have a house battery, you can run your 12V or even 48V to your box, then get a USB-C PD box, then you should be able to get connectors that will feed all of your devices. USB-C PD supports 5v, 9v, 12v, 15v, 20v, and soon with 3.1, 24v and 48v! Now you can get rid of your UPS! The amount of power loss converting from DC to AC and back to DC for all your electronics is significant. USB-C can solve 90% of your power issues. You can also buy devices that can be configured to a fixed voltage that you then connect to your non-USB-C-native devices, e.g. USB-C in, a fixed 5v out, connect to a barrel 5.5mm x 2.1mm, plug into your electronic device. WIN! Also, it seems like you are spending about $500/month for your Internet access: $150 Verizon, $160 T-Mobile, $10 AT&T, $150 Starlink, plus like what, $2,000 on the hardware? More?
I'm surprised you don't have the TMHI in your setup, i have gotten away with murder with that thing, and you're paying $150 for t-mobile for 800 gb, when you can get truly unlimited with tmhi, other than that i find your setup really cool, a little bit of an overkill with the AP and the extra routers, hey if it makes you happy im glad.
I've been watching your older videos about storms and tornadoes. my question is to you if you have solar panels and a bowl of lightning where to hit one of your solar panels, would your surge protector stopped it before it goes any further?
I see it every now and again on the roof and think... eventually I need to see what's in that thing. I know it's tied to a single carrier plan and it's very limited. That is, when i last looked into it at least.
@@ChangingLanes MIRC had a good video on it. It also supports the tv antenna, a Wi-Fi antenna, and two cellular antennas. I was originally thinking about replacing that with your setup, but we'd lose the tv antenna. It does have wiring going to at least three different locations and that might be of benefit when snaking wires. The other thing is it takes valuable roof space if it isn't being used. I'm just doing research at this point. Take delivery of a 380FL in about a month.
Great update. Have you used or did you consider a powerline adapter to extend your internet? I used one previously in my house and I would think it could work in an RV. Would be much easier than fishing the line. Thoughts?
You'd use power line instead of the attic duct run, and put the peplink AP on it in the bedroom somewhere much like now. You'd need a POE injector too unless you could find a power line adapter that had it. We used this in our 5er but the speeds can be a bit slow depending on your AC panel. Much easier than running cable though
Chad, as always, jealous as ever! LOL. As an IT manager fulltime on the road, I need reliable, consistent internet. I think we copied you a few years back with the max transit duo, which has been awesome. The hold up today is it only has the one WAN port. Well, we have tmobile home internet and SL now, so a second WAN port would be great. I've looked through the pepwave site, but can you recommend any way to add a second WAN connection? Does pepwave make a device that is just for 2 wans, no other bells or whistles? If not, could you talk them into it? I can't justify $2899, as awesome as the BR2 pro is, when what I have is rock solid. Any help/suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!
I assume your NAS is pure SSDs to minimize moving parts. Did you do anything special regarding fans or do you just keep spare on hand or shut it down while driving?
Have you ever had any issues with the hard drives in your Synology failing due to the massive vibrations they undergo when traveling? Do you remove them on travel days? Just rely on them "locking down"?
![📶 AWESOME Mobile Internet! || Working from the Road Full Time! [2020]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yDCIx5JpEgs/mqdefault.jpg)
NOTE! There was a miscommunication about our 5% discount stacking on top of the 10% discount of MMH members. This is NOT the case, and we apologize for any confusion caused. Non-MMH members still get 5% off with our code (CHANGINGLANES), and MMH members still get their 10% discount.
thanks for posting this. I was told when placing my order that the discounts were not stackable. awesome video as usual
I had to have leg amputated first of the year and basically quit watching anything on TH-cam. Ive started back some lately and watching this video just made me realize how much I missed your channel. Thanks for sharing and will be going back over the past months to get caught up. Thanks 😊
Welcome back! And, sorry to hear about your leg.
Wow! What a well researched video. Thank you for this!! Lisa ( Wingman’s wife😊)
Such a clean install. Glad the starlink external plug worked out for you. Was a game changer for me. I shared that same hesitation prior to cutting the cable. A tip for me was adding a small dap of dialectic greese to the connector. Even though "waterproof", I still had a bit of corrosion on the connectors after about 8 months.
Great idea! We had a TON of rain recently and I checked the box.. Nice and dry! 😊
Chad, thank you for your always well-researched videos. Not a how-to. It’s a how-you-do. ❤
Yup....way, way over my head , and what an old Vietnam, rv'n vet needs for my exploration of our great country! Love the channel!
Hope you hit the road soon.
Your "lowest level" of internet connectivity is a cell phone as a hot spot. You said you lose your internet connection when you take your phone away from the RV. In our situation, I've got a LTE connected tablet that is used as our RV safe GPS on travel days. When we get into the RV for a trip I fire up the hotspot and the RV WiFi knows to connect to that first. That way we are constantly connected as long as we have cell coverage. All of our devices (except for my cell phone and that tablet) are configured to connect to the RV WiFi so my bride's tablet and our streaming devices are ready to go as soon as we turn them on.
Awesome overview of your Internet 4.0! I'll never need anything that robust, but thanks for showing what's out there so I can pick and choose what will work best for me. Safe travels and maybe someday we'll see you out there.
Super informative video! I'm a full time RVer and getting internet has been a crucial aspect for my ability to work remotely. I use homeFi and its been great, super reliable and inexpensive!
Fantastic video, I'll be using those pass-through ethernet fittings for the Starlink we have at work on some mobile testing labs! Thanks!
Chad fabulous video as a retired network engineer I was drooling at what you installed in your RV.
I made meany videos on the old WifiRanger on my channel aaa those were the days lol.
I now am using a Unfi system with high security and virus protection.
But that a video for an other time.
Again great video on your system
I am so thankful I was sitting down when I saw the price of these items. I think my current off-the-grid approach is going to continue.
Man oh man, my husband and I would be the luckiest RVers ever if we were to ever be able to run into you and sweet talk you into a consult. We went with the Peplink Dual Max Pro set up and we’re just eeking by on our speed.
Great as always Chad! I am surprised you are not including T-Mobile & Verizon Home Internet as a basic resources @ $40-50 a month unlimited & unthrottled! Salespersons may say (they don’t know better) that these are home based but I’m using them all over as they provide better signals than hot spots, serve as their own router, and the price is great too! See y’all @ Grand Design National Rally!
I was just reading the FAQ for t-mobile home internet: "there are some restrictions on activities that can damage or disproportionately congest the network. For example, Home Internet is not intended for unattended use, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections". I think most have terms like this.. So, our large amounts of dropbox data would disqualify us.. We use 1-2 TB a month. That said, it might be very viable for the "normal" user. We might have to try them out at some point to test....
That is my current setup too 😊
I’m using the BR1 with ATT SIM card. Verizon & TMobile Home Internet via wan with new feature in 8.3, and Starlink via WiFi as Wan. I am a Zoom trainer and redundancy and reliability are not optional. Pepwave should be at the heart of your system! Chad, MIRC, and Mobile Must Have are your go to resources!
So awesome. I work in IT so I salivated over your setup. Well done 👍
While most of this is far beyond me, I still enjoyed watching you cobble all of this together to fit your needs. I do like the 'Nerdy' stuff. I do some of our grunt IT work here (under the supervision of an IT company) and I agree that the EZ Connectors are the only way to go. Can't tell you how many times I have had a pair flip on me as as I was pushing them into the connector. It sure is nice to be able to double check them before crimping isn't it?
You did a real nice job Chad.
Thank for sharing it all with us.
Thanks, Chad. This looks like quite a project, but having gone through this before probably helped a bunch. Probably a lot more simple if you weren't working from "home" but then ya'll couldn't get out and do what you do. Looked like a clean and fairly simple install, good job.
Thanks guys for another nice video. Hope Tara's treatments are going well.
God bless ya'll and stay safe on the road when you get out there.
Wow , I feel this amount of tech could throw me in the looney bin🤣
But i always enjoy watching your description and knowledge with everything you cover .
Thank you Chad !
Thumbs up and haven’t even watched it yet. Chad is always on point with mobile internet.
Thanks! 😊 Now go watch the video! 😉
Great Video, looks so ez pz. Hope all is well with the rest of your family. Happy trails, thanks again for the invite.
Thanks for the tips; nice video! It took you a while in the video but I am so happy with the mesh network.
Just came across this video and some of your other videos recently. Thanks for the information. Very informative. Kim
Being a techie geek myself (degree in electronics and computer science, career in industrial automation) I found the video interesting. Bottom line is, I get adequate and usable service using our AT&T unlimited plan and the cell phone hotspot with the laptop. I've never had connection issues for phone or laptop use from coast to coast. Of course my usage does not involve large video uploads or space mission controls😉. To each his own according to his needs...
I feel like someone can dominate a market by making mobile internet a little simpler than this. Your determination to have reliable internet is enviable.
For sure... But try getting ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile, and starlink to all get on board with a single product. 😳
@@ChangingLanes Very true! Great video by the way!
Excellent video. I always enjoy your installations.
Ok, I got all that info very clearly... Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and 5G. 🤣 Great video!!!
Chad, you should consider doing RV tech consultations and system/equipment designs & part lists for folks. Make a questionnaire of what you need it for, potential budget and your hourly rate. Bonus points if you were able to network and provide a vendor to do the installation and testing as well. Folks would pay good for a service like that.
Great video and overview of your system. As a fellow IT guy, these techy videos are my fav. We rock the Pepwave Transit Duo with 2 cellular and Starlink connections and has been rock solid this past year of full time travels. Highly recommend Mobile Must Have for the Pepwave gear. They are awesome. Oh and hello from the other side of the Smoky Mountains!
👋🏼 😊
Chad - Great video again on internet solutions. Quick question on the Speed Fusion. You mentioned that basically it is making a VPN circuit to load balance across all 3 or 4 internet solutions (Starlink, Verizon, ATT, & TMobile)... Do you know if you can run a VPN on your laptop through the Speed Fusion solution? In other words, you have the speed fusion all setup and running, and my wife or I need to connect to work, we must use a VPN connection between our laptop and the corporate network. This absolutely would put our minds at ease in regards to building out as "bullet proof" solution as possible for working while traveling - we need to be on very important MS Team calls and using Cisco VoIP Soft Phones talking to our different staffs...
Years ago, I used to install custom car audio and electronics. We learned to run your hole saw backward when drilling materials or plastic that might catch. Once started through the direction, it can be corrected for the base material.
Great tip! 👍🏼 👊🏼
Great video, love the geek speak and you held a nice low level of lingo to keep it understandable by most people. Your wiring makes me happy, nice and neat, labeled, bundled properly, chaffing protected, all the things. Nice job man! I like how you used PoE to handle the APs and only needed the one cable instead of providing an additional power source cable. The way you compartmentalized the network really makes troubleshooting and hardware replacement so much smoother too. Future proof and clean setup
Thank you so much for another awesome and educational video, Chad! And as always, we are humbled by your shoutouts to MIRC!
❤️
Great video as always. Just curious, why do you not use T-mobile home internet box? I use it for working while traveling (we are full-time RVer’s) and have only had a problem once or twice. It picks up 5G when available. It’s only $50 a month. Plug and play. On another note, we met you guys at Tampa RV show on industry day. Hubby is a NRVTA graduate with his own business now. We love you guys and you are the reason we are where we are today. Thanks!!
Sounds like a great solution. I just prefer being able to bond multiple connections for redundancy.
This is what I use, I did have Starlink, I can’t imagine how much all that costs them.
The BEST video on the subject available! Thank you
I just get travfi and it bounces of at least 3 providers. As long as you have cell towers your good to go. And cost is much cheaper. Now if you plan to be in the mountains then you might need a starlink. But for the most part for streaming and phones etc travfi worked great for us. a little white box bring it with you everywhere and there plans can be customized for your needs. They do have 5g but we found with pur devices witch we have 5 devices is plenty. You pick the hardware and then it automatically picks the strongest signal . We used this up and down the east coast on the road. And we have it as snowbirds to Florida for 4 months on our trec from NH. It's worth a look especially if your camping here and there for a week or more. Plans are $19 to $129 for unlimited.
I can't begin to try and explain how far over my head this was. You literally are speaking a foreign language. I have Starlink in a new build home in the middle of rural America, I have their Mesh system too but I still have issues. I do need to have you as my neighbor or best friend though. Thats for damn sure. I have watched you guys for years and I'll give you a thumbs up just because of your presentation. Great video. I think. 🙂
Great stuff !! I wish we had those data plans in Canada.
Nice job Chad. Your recommendation is exactly what I was looking at. Thank you for sharing this info, you explained it better than I thought of it 😂
Great looking install. Do you also have the option of connecting to park WiFi and adding it as one of your "channels" through the antenna and BR1/BR2?
Nice install. Great info coming to us in a simplified form. I bet it's nice being able to work at the cabin instead of an rv park
It sure is! I can get as messy as I need to! LOL
Thank you. We have been waiting for this video so we can set up our internet in our new 410.
Great Video Chad. What do you recommend for areas that have limited cell service. We live in KY and do a lot of camping in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Cades Cove Campground) or in the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky. Part of that is we go there to get away from cell service but with aging parents we want to be able to get some service.
We enjoy your content and learn new things!! Keep it up and happy travels to you both!!😍😍😍😍
Very informative. Thanks to you both as I can only imagine the work that went into making this video.
I hope you are running Plenum rated cables in the air ducts. It's normally a little more expensive than non Plenum rated, but it is much safer in case of a duct fire.
It’s funny, I have all of the same services, Starlink, a Pepwave with ATT, a Verizen hotspot and T-mobile, just not tied all togeather, love it
Thank you for the great information - Since you have the system hard-wired to 110 AC, and you spoke about having the bedroom Access Point close enough to your tow rig, when you're moving locations, do you power everything down since you're no longer shore-power-connected? If so, how do you use the AP in the truck?
What speeds are y’all seeing on average with your set up esp through the nc mountains? We have a trip from brevard through Franklin up into east Tn this summer and are trying to decide on our final internet setup. We already have Starlink but need to add a cellular router for backup.
Great video on a complicated topic for the average joe
Great info and like always, you make it look simple!
Great video and very thorough, well thought out as always! One comment on the hand made network cables, push through connectors are probably the easiest to make as long as long as you have the cut/crimp tool designed for those connectors like Chad used. That tool is expensive so many people will try to use a regular crimper and cut the wires off with regular wire cutters. If that happens there will be exposed metal at the end of the connector, it can touch other metal short out and damage things.
Always great info Chad
Wow, that is what I call a setup. 👏
Hi Chad. I have the old 4G Pepwave Max device with the 5-in-1 antenna. I want to upgrade to the new 5G device. How do you get the old antenna off the roof without messing up the roof membrane?
Great Job. Love to listen to you.
Thanks Chad for all the great information in this video. I'm getting ready to start full-timing in my RV and I work remotely as a software engineer so connectivity is pretty important to my job, however I don't really have the huge bandwidth needs that you seem to have. I'm planning on purchasing the Peplink Max BR1 and using a data plan along with Starlink. My question is how well the built in cellular antennas on these devices work without using an external antenna. If I don't need to invest in the external antenna and go through the effort (and anxiety) of roof mounting that, I'd rather not, however if I'm going to have problems from day one without it, then I'll just do it.
We have our BR1 using the internal antennas and connected to ATT. It does very well! I'd try that option first and add the antenna if you need it. 👍🏼
@@ChangingLanes Thanks for the reply! Really appreciate it!
Thanks for making all of these videos, they are very useful as we are going to start living full time in a RV we bought a few months ago!
Would you recommend your NAS device? I, as a content creator and GoPro enthusiast, need a lot of hard drive storage, but I am skeptical about getting hard drives over solid state drives because they are more prone to fail, especially when on the road. Have you had any issues, and could you point me in the direction of your setup? Thanks a lot!
So does NASA know you took their gear? 😂. Good video. I just need something I can weekend RV with and connect on Jobsites.
We run a business out of our 5er which we travel in and live in full-time, and we get by with just Starlink, a simple 2 SIM (AT&T/ VERIZON) Skyus 160 hotspot with LTE/4G, a WeBoost external directional antenna and amplifier, and a "dumb" TP Link ethernet switch. Starlink and the Weboost antenna are on a permanently mounted telescopic pole attached to the ladder of the RV. Bonding is neat I guess, but the Skyus 160 web page is more than enough for switching SIMS or reading signal strength. It seems as though you're both retired. I fail to see the necessity for you guys to have all that, other than promoting for your sponsors. To each their own I guess. A tech nerd gonna tech nerd......but damn, the overkill here is insane!
I have the max br1 mini cat 7, with no USB port. If I wanted to connect a small external hard drive, could I simply use a USB to Lan adapter? Or would I need a switch?
Wow awesome info. Thanks Chad
Great video Chad, thanks so much! Have you used the Wi-Fi antennas on the Parsec GP for wireless connectivity outside your RV?
Yes... we use wifi-as-wan from our peplink in the cabin to connect to the RV and use it's cellular connections.
Did you use shielded RJ45 connectors for the starling cable at the waterproof connector? About to do this upgrade and wondering if I need to order some.
T mobile home internet is unlimited 5G mobile internet and it is a straight forward $50 per month. I live in a momentum 376th it works every where we have been just love it
I was just reading the FAQ for t-mobile home internet: "there are some restrictions on activities that can damage or disproportionately congest the network. For example, Home Internet is not intended for unattended use, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections". I think most have terms like this.. So, our large amounts of dropbox data would disqualify us.. We use 1-2 TB a month. That said, it might be very viable for the "normal" user. We might have to try them out at some point to test....
Another excellent info-filled video Chad!
What do you use for your NAS drive? - I probably need to replace my older Netgear drive soon. - Thanks! - Cheers!
Thanks! We use Synology 5-bay DiskStation: amzn.to/40bJdfC
Chad - what did you do with the metal ground wire that runs through the Starlink cable when you connected the Ethernet plugs?
Good idea, taking a picture of the connections that will be hard to see later. I would probably print a copy and adhere it to the front of the device. Be easier than searching all your images on your phone in 6 months or in the event of a phone failure.
I keep a dedicated folder in photos of them, plus license plates, RV VIN tag, truck door stickers, etc... 👍🏼
@@ChangingLanes Of course you do. Why would I think otherwise? :)
@@TheMhudlow just an FYI, in-case you don't know about it (if not an Apple user I don't know what Android has on this front) - if using Apple products you can also tag your photos and then just use the search. I used to keep many folders but now use the electronic means to find things as it is usually way quicker than scrolling timeline to find (as things are always way older than I remember) and or searching manually thru the camera role. Apple also has face detection so you can easily find photos of the person easier too.
Can you issue AT commands to the 5g/4g modem? Does the Peplink BR2 support the ability to adjust TTL?
Trying to pull the trigger on a Mobil Must Have Starlink package with the BR1 Pro 5G. Stalling on antenna selection. Wondering how often the effort of erecting a pole mount PEPWAVE would actually benefit over a Husky Pro 7 roof mount. The decisions never end!
Height is might in the rf world.
But also, if it's too much hassle and you never put it up, that's no good either!
Going through some old comments from members... IMO, I'd put a permanent roof mount antenna up. Getting the pole out every stop is tiresome.
Chad you are the best! Will you have a diagram for your internet setup like you have for the electric setup? Btw when you make these videos is Tara behind the camera, recharging her batteries, doing other stuff?
This video was just me... mounted gopros and canon on tripod. 😊 No diagram, but it's just the BR2 and Starlink connected to WAN ports on the BR1. And the BR1 and both APs are connected to the switch.
Is the WAN smoothing the equivalent of LiveU's FEC (Forward Error Correction) where missing packets are sent & resent as necessary to / from / thru the Speed Fusion Cloud service?
That's a very nice Starlink Ethernet Adapter wall hanger. ;-)
Thanks for the reminder! 😊 I added it to the description and blog post. I wasn't able to use the main SL mount, as you likely saw.
@@ChangingLanes That is extremely appreciated my friend. You rock!!!
ALWAYS MOUNT YOUR NETWORK HARDWARE SIDEWAYS! This way you can see your lights and labels as well keeps things out of the jacks.
Hi Chad, can you share how the SpeedFusion plans work and what the costs are with them. I am thinking along the lines of a BR1 Pro and getting a T-Mobile and Verizon Sim, I also have Starlink, and AT&T via my cell phones last resort.
You can find the high-speed plans here: sfc.peplink.com/?t=connect
But, if you're okay with 10Mbps, you can use the unlimited free option.
@@ChangingLanes The plans are still confusing, for example, Protect Plan C 365 days for $40.00 seems fine. Reads like an Oracle contract. I understand when I buy a device (br1 pro for example) it will come with some level of Protect coverage for a period of time or data.
Do you happen to know if you have a permanent home base with a high speed connection (Cable or Fiber) could you put another Peplink box there and then run your own SpeedFusion instance from your RV to that so you would not have to pay Peplink for a higher performance speed tier?
Interesting video and very good information and great delivery on the details. Tks. One Q4U, the hole you drilled, it looked from watching you doing it inside the 5th wheel it was near the edge however seeing the drill coming through the roof it looked more in the center of the roof then where you mounted the box and using the holesaw it was back near the edge again. Was that an illusion or older video dubbed in?
I think maybe the wide angle of the camera on top might have made it seem farther from the edge than it is...
Why not use the in-built Wifi from the 11-1 dish? That has more than enough coverage for an RV - stupidly overkill to have 2 APs so close to each other.
Excellent presentation 👍
Why did you need the WAPs? I would have expected the Wi-Fi antennae in your roof antenna to provide more than enough coverage in the RV? Or do those antennae only provide WAN over Wifi connections to the peplink BR2 and you need additional AP for Wi-Fi review to connect to your network?
I didn't dive deep, but I usually configure a "guest" wifi (with password) on the roof antenna and let it do that and wifi as wan... then I configure the inside APs with our regular SSIDs. We found in our last RV that the wifi wouldn't reach the truck without the AP in the bedroom. Metal truck and all....
I love mobile wireless on my new rv soon
Great walkthrough! How do the drives in that Synology NAS hold up with all the travel? I have always thought that a spinning HDD wouldn't survive a drive day in an RV.
Good question! I shut down the NAS on travel days, which should park the heads... we've never had an issue.
We place ours on our bed on travel days to minimize the bounce. No issues so far for us
I'm un-sure why you would use the junction box, and not just mount the 11-1 antenna directly to the roof of the RV? Peplinks versions allow for the sealant / rubber gasket to ensure watertight connection.
Great video. Thank you.😊
You should move everything to DC rather than AC!!! If you have a house battery, you can run your 12V or even 48V to your box, then get a USB-C PD box, then you should be able to get connectors that will feed all of your devices. USB-C PD supports 5v, 9v, 12v, 15v, 20v, and soon with 3.1, 24v and 48v! Now you can get rid of your UPS!
The amount of power loss converting from DC to AC and back to DC for all your electronics is significant. USB-C can solve 90% of your power issues. You can also buy devices that can be configured to a fixed voltage that you then connect to your non-USB-C-native devices, e.g. USB-C in, a fixed 5v out, connect to a barrel 5.5mm x 2.1mm, plug into your electronic device. WIN!
Also, it seems like you are spending about $500/month for your Internet access: $150 Verizon, $160 T-Mobile, $10 AT&T, $150 Starlink, plus like what, $2,000 on the hardware? More?
Nice, Way Cool. And yes, a little over my pay grade.
From a non computer guy. All i have to say is, huh...
Great video, though I'll just let you hook this setup in my rig
I'm surprised you don't have the TMHI in your setup, i have gotten away with murder with that thing, and you're paying $150 for t-mobile for 800 gb, when you can get truly unlimited with tmhi, other than that i find your setup really cool, a little bit of an overkill with the AP and the extra routers, hey if it makes you happy im glad.
Love ur channel
I've been watching your older videos about storms and tornadoes. my question is to you if you have solar panels and a bowl of lightning where to hit one of your solar panels, would your surge protector stopped it before it goes any further?
No idea really, but I doubt it. I think a direct lightning strike would likely burn a lot up.
Chad, great video. Very helpful. Question - What did you do with your Wineguard 360+ system GDRV preinstalled?
I see it every now and again on the roof and think... eventually I need to see what's in that thing. I know it's tied to a single carrier plan and it's very limited. That is, when i last looked into it at least.
@@ChangingLanes MIRC had a good video on it. It also supports the tv antenna, a Wi-Fi antenna, and two cellular antennas. I was originally thinking about replacing that with your setup, but we'd lose the tv antenna. It does have wiring going to at least three different locations and that might be of benefit when snaking wires. The other thing is it takes valuable roof space if it isn't being used. I'm just doing research at this point. Take delivery of a 380FL in about a month.
Run some speed tests pleaaseee lol via cellphone, hotspot, your setup, etc to compare them :D
Great update. Have you used or did you consider a powerline adapter to extend your internet? I used one previously in my house and I would think it could work in an RV. Would be much easier than fishing the line. Thoughts?
I don't see why it wouldn't work. I'm just not sure those have the power to reach the truck though...
@@ChangingLanes Maybe I'll have to give it a go and update you. :)
You'd use power line instead of the attic duct run, and put the peplink AP on it in the bedroom somewhere much like now. You'd need a POE injector too unless you could find a power line adapter that had it.
We used this in our 5er but the speeds can be a bit slow depending on your AC panel. Much easier than running cable though
Damn Man!! You lost me at the first link. I dropped off and I'm floating out there somewhere.
Looks good though.
Be well and stay safe,
bf
Chad, as always, jealous as ever! LOL. As an IT manager fulltime on the road, I need reliable, consistent internet. I think we copied you a few years back with the max transit duo, which has been awesome. The hold up today is it only has the one WAN port. Well, we have tmobile home internet and SL now, so a second WAN port would be great. I've looked through the pepwave site, but can you recommend any way to add a second WAN connection? Does pepwave make a device that is just for 2 wans, no other bells or whistles? If not, could you talk them into it? I can't justify $2899, as awesome as the BR2 pro is, when what I have is rock solid. Any help/suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!
I'm not aware of a way... You might try asking in the peplink forums: forum.peplink.com/
I assume your NAS is pure SSDs to minimize moving parts. Did you do anything special regarding fans or do you just keep spare on hand or shut it down while driving?
regular HDD (spinning). We just shut it down on travel days. 👍🏼
Thanks again Chad, you're staying on top of it, and we appreciate it.
I will add one thing... ezmobiledata support is VERY responsive and helpful.
Great to hear!
Have you ever had any issues with the hard drives in your Synology failing due to the massive vibrations they undergo when traveling? Do you remove them on travel days? Just rely on them "locking down"?
We just power it down before traveling. Never had a problem with this NAS, nor our last NAS (Western Digital).
Do you still use the 25ft antenna extension? I think you said you got that when you were in North Carolina?
Haven't used that in a long time. Doubt we will since we have starlink as our "far away from cell towers" option now.
Have you looked at project genesis 5G by dish?
Thanks Chad!!
Pre-made patch cables are stranded wire - more flexible and less likely to break.